Lightning Cap Realities Shaping Kucherov’s Negotiations
Both Tampa Bay Lightning General Manager Julien BriseBois and veteran right winger Nikita Kucherov stated prior to the start of this season that they wanted the focus on Kucherov’s future to be put into the shadows and not be a distraction to the team.
“There is no timeline,” BriseBois said last month regarding extending Kucherov’s contract, which has a mere eight months remaining on it. “If we want to get technical, he won’t be a free agent until July 1 of next year. Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that point. But don’t expect us to be having updates on the talks.”
Too late, now.
When Kucherov came out publicly on Friday evening saying that he would not be re-signing with the team, and he was requesting a trade, the entire hockey world is going to be wanting “updates on the talks” daily, if not hourly.
There won’t be a media session held, moving forward, without someone asking a player or Lightning coach Jon Cooper about the tenuous situation.
“I will sit here and tell you nothing has changed in what our goals are this year; just, maybe, the context of how it is going to go about it,” Cooper said following Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Nashville. “‘Kuch’ is 100% a part of this team. He wants to be a part of this team for this season, and he is committed to be with the group that loves him and the group he loves.
“What I don’t want to get skewed in all of this is if ‘Kuch’ turns the puck over or the play does not go exactly his way, and he shows frustration or, at some point, the coach who is coaching him is showing frustration with him or somebody else on the team and, then, everybody says, ‘Oh my God. He wants out.’ That will not be the case. Jon Cooper will coach the team the way Jon Cooper has always coached the team, and ‘Kuch’ is going to play like the superstar he is and the way he has for a decade and a half, and that is how it is going to continue. All the rest of it is outside noise and, for ‘Kuch’ internally, what happens after our season is over, that’s ‘Kuch’s’ right and he has earned that right for whatever happens. For us, it probably made the team stronger.”
I’m curious how having your top player saying he wants to leave makes a “team stronger,” but that is beside the point, for right now. The immediate concern is that the situation will absolutely be a distraction, and that won’t change until the matter is resolved one way or another.
BriseBois has said that the franchise “unequivocally has no intention of trading Nikita.”
Kucherov has said that he won’t be re-signing with the team.
This is a distraction. Sorry, Bolts leadership. It is what it is.
To write about Kucherov’s contract situation is difficult for anyone other than his agent, Dan Millstein, who seemingly wants to handle the negotiations publicly via social media, as well as BriseBois.
There are lots of “reports” of information being discussed between the two sides, but we truly have no idea what is accurate and what isn’t.
Opining on this subject is like solving a mathematical equation in which, maybe, you are given the correct numbers, but maybe you weren’t.
What is being reported is that Kucherov is seeking a $120M deal over six years.
It is also being reported that BriseBois has responded with a $60M offer over four years.
Maybe those numbers are accurate. But maybe they aren’t even close to what has been discussed. Only a handful of people actually know the truth.
For argument’s sake, BriseBois only offering four years sounds skeptical, based on what he publicly said last month.
“With his tremendous work ethic,” BriseBois said, “and commitment to his craft, I have every reason to believe that he’s going to remain an elite player well into his 30s.”
Kucherov will play the first season of his new contract as a 34-year-old. Technically, we are already there, as far as being “well into his 30s.”
Do I believe, or more importantly, does BriseBois believe that Kucherov will be very productive for the next six seasons? I know that I do. However, I also understand the limitations of the National Hockey League’s HARD salary cap, as well as BriseBois’ having to field a competitive roster in future years.
For the critics of BriseBois, and there have been a decent number over the last 24 hours who have made themselves known, he has done a masterful job of putting this franchise in a position to compete over the next half-decade.
Top six players Brayden Point (three years remaining on his deal following this season), Jake Guentzel (four years), Brandon Hagel (five years), Anthony Cirelli (five years), and top defensemen JJ Moser and Erik Cernak (four years each) are all locked into the plans of this team, and at incredibly reasonable salaries, especially given how the salary cap has increased this past summer.
Hagel being inked for another five seasons at under $6,500,000 annually, just might be the best contract in the NHL. However, BriseBois has to be cognizant of the future rosters.
If he gives Kucherov, for argument’s sake, $120M now, what amount is he going to be pushed to give goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who, by the way, is more critical to the team’s success than Kucherov, by June 30, 2028, when his deal expires?
For the Bolts Nation members who have clamored for “more depth scoring” in recent seasons, if you thought that has been an issue, just wait until Tampa Bay is paying $45M to just two players. And by the way, for half of those deals, the Lightning will be paying that amount to athletes who are in their mid- to late 30s.
That is what BriseBois is having to contemplate through these negotiations.
So, this is far from a scenario where BriseBois is disrespecting Kucherov because he won’t give him similar amounts of money that other teams have given to their much, much younger stars over the past year-plus.
In the immediate future, how competitive will Tampa Bay be next season if Kucherov’s contract prohibits the re-signing of valuable pieces such as Pontus Holmberg (27 years old), Gage Goncalves (25), Dominic James (24), Conor Geekie (22), Emil Lileberg (25), and/ore Charle-Edouard D’Astous (28), each of whom is also in the final year of their contracts?
“The salary cap has gone up tremendously over the last few years,” BriseBois said. “We know that it will continue to do so, and we are seeing that in some of the contracts that are being signed now that the market is adjusting.
“Obviously, that is a factor that I think everyone is taking into account in all of these negotiations. Honestly, the sooner (we reach a deal), the better.”
Reach a deal or facilitate Kucherov’s trade demand, the “sooner, the better” is applicable in resolving this, inarguable, distracting situation.
